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Economic Vulnerability and Disaster Risk Assessment in Malawi and Mozambique
Resource ID
932aebd8-cf2b-11e5-803c-040146164b01
Title
Economic Vulnerability and Disaster Risk Assessment in Malawi and Mozambique
Date
April 30, 2010, 11:49 a.m., Publication
Abstract
Highly variable climate in Malawi and Mozambique has a significant influence on the amount, tim- ing, and frequency of precipitation events and runoff patterns, which results in frequent recurrent droughts and floods. In Malawi rainfall varies considerably both seasonally and from year to year. the country has one of the most erratic rainfall patterns in Africa. Between 1967 and 2003, the country experienced six major droughts, affecting over 21 million people in total. Floods occur in southern Malawi, particularly in the Lower Shire river valley and the lakeshore areas of Lake Malawi, Lake Malombe and Lake chilwa, as well as in the lower reaches of the Songwe river in the northern region. Between 1967 and 2003, 18 floods were recorded killing at least 570 people, rendering 132,000 homeless, and affecting a total of 1.8 million people. Flooding also damages property and infrastructure, impeding drainage of agricultural lands and causing crop damage. In Mozambique, drought is the most frequent natural disaster, occuring every three to four years. Mozambique has areas that are classified as semi-arid and arid where rain—even when above average—is inadequate, resulting in critical water shortage and limited agriculture productivity. It is estimated that droughts contributed to about 4,000 deaths between 1980 and 2000. A number of geographical factors cause floods in Mozambique, which give rise to high coefficients of rainfall variability. the country is situated downstream of nine major international river basins. It lies in the path of tropical cyclones formed in the Indian ocean and is affected by three to four cyclones a year. In 2000, Mozambique experienced its worst floods in 50 years, killing about 100 people and displacing 540,000.
Edition
--
Responsible
andy
Point of Contact
Fraser
sfraser@worldbank.org
Purpose
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Maintenance Frequency
None
Type
not filled
Restrictions
None
License
Public Domain
Language
eng
Temporal Extent
Start
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End
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Supplemental Information
river_flood
Data Quality
--
Extent
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Spatial Reference System Identifier
EPSG:4326
Keywords
(6630, 8, 469, 48, 8, 'Flood', 'flood'), (6632, 11, 469, 48, 11, 'Drought', 'drought'), (6633, 85, 469, 48, 85, 'WBG', 'wbg'), (6631, 187, 469, 48, 187, 'Malawi', 'malawi'), (6634, 189, 469, 48, 189, 'Risk assessment', 'risk-assessment_1')
Category
Geoscientific Information
Regions
Malawi , Mozambique